


bloom & grow

by exarite



Series: Naruto Tumblr Prompts [10]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Language of Flowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 23:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18860902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exarite/pseuds/exarite
Summary: The flowers that bloom over your skin reveal far too much, Team 7 finds.::AU where experiences show as flowers on your skin. Team 7-centric





	bloom & grow

Kakashi looks into the mirror with his mask off and sees death stare back from the marigolds that bloom all the way up to his jaw and his mouth. Grief wraps around his neck like a collar, the flowers of his failure choking him and serving only as a reminder of how everyone he’s ever loved is lost to him.

He reaches up and touches the flowers on his neck. He can remember when each individual flower had bloomed, first with his father at the curve of his bottom lip, and then all the way to Minato at the hollow of his throat. 

A purple hyacinth twines with Obito’s marigold, regret that stays with him until now. Regret that things happened as they had, and regret that Kakashi treated him like he was worth nothing, when the lavender and chrysanthemum–devotion, optimism and fidelity that had marked Obito’s skin was enough proof that Obito was worth so much more than him. 

All he has left is Obito’s eye in his socket, and the flowers that spell out his sorrow and regret.

*

Sasuke reminds Kakashi a little too much of himself. Maybe it’s the grief that covers his arm, marigolds from his fingers all the way up to his shoulder, every Uchiha that had died that night permanently marked on his skin. It’s a gruesome sight and it doesn’t help Sasuke in any way but to drive him further into the path of revenge.

It’s fitting. Sasuke was born with justice wrought on his heart, delicate chestnut flowers that his father had deemed acceptable. Justice and revenge–there is no difference for a boy his age.

When his brother dies, Sasuke doesn’t know whether to laugh hysterically or sob at the sight of yellow marigolds and purple hyacinths that cover his whole body. Even in death, his grief stays and his apologies spill itself across his skin.

How dare he? How dare he wear the Uchiha on his skin—as if they had meant something to him, as if he wasn’t the one to murder them himself in cold blood? How dare he grieve for them? How dare he ask them for forgiveness?

But his forehead still tingles from Itachi’s last touch and for once, Sasuke’s hatred for his brother wavers. 

* 

Naruto is born with irises on his little belly, hope and cherished friendship all in one and for a moment, Minato lets himself smile. The flowers aren’t indicative of his son’s future, but there is hope in his veins and in his skin, and right now, hope is the one thing he needs the most. 

He seals the Kyuubi in his son and watches in pain as the seal spreads out over his stomach, the black and the yellow intertwining. No one will see his son’s birth flowers without seeing the evidence of what he’s done. Jinchuuriki. Power of human sacrifice.

Soon, Naruto’s arms will be wrapped with yellow carnations, the brightness of their color a juxtaposition to the rejection and the disappointment that marks his skin, evidence of what he faces everyday. 

And soon, the irises will spread past the seal, overwhelm it, cover his whole chest. Hope and cherished friendship. Always, always, always. Every friend Naruto makes, every person he converts into believing in him, following in him, the irises bloom on him and them. Uzumaki Naruto lives up to the hope on his skin.

*

Gladiolus blooms at the back of her neck, and she is strength and courage personified. They’re only buds, but years down, they’ll bloom into huge flowers, the length of them covering her whole nape and shoulders, a cape of the strength she has sweated and bled for. Gladiolus were named after the gladiators, fierce warriors who fought for their freedom just as Sakura fights to make a name for herself free from her team’s shadows.

And her favorite, oh her favorite, sweet alyssum covers her whole hands, ever since that day in the Chunnin Exams where she had cut her hair short in the ugliest cut possible, all evidence of her need to be pretty gone–worth beyond beauty. Every time she heals, every time she punches and breaks apart boulders with her fists alone, the sweet alyssum blooms and spreads over her hands, past her wrists, all the way up to her elbows. Worth beyond beauty, worth beyond beauty, worth beyond beauty.

* 

Naruto and Sasuke fight to the death and after, when they’re lying down and Sakura is healing over what’s left of their arms, she notices the buds on the shoulders of their missing arms. Right where the wound starts, yellow roses bloom–joy, friendship, and new beginnings. It’s fitting, she thinks. Naruto has always considered them to be brothers, best friends, and now they have matching flowers to show for it. 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm steadily moving my tumblr drabbles here on ao3 where it won't get lost :P this is pretty old, like 10 months old lmao.


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